1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting device for cutting a recording medium, and a recording apparatus including the cutting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a recording apparatus configured to record images on the recording medium such as a roll of sheet, a recording medium cutting device is mounted, and after an image is recorded on a recording medium based on image information, the cutting device cuts the recording medium at a desired position in a conveyance direction of the recording medium, and a recorded medium is discharged as an output object in final form.
A cutting device is well known in which a cutter unit, which moves transversely across the discharge port, is located near a discharge port for discharging a recorded medium, and by moving the cutter, the recording medium is cut. In the above configuration, when a recording medium is cut, since the cutter unit is moved in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction, a problem arises that the recording medium is displaced by being subjected to a force from the cutter during cutting.
To prevent a recording medium from being displaced during cutting, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-14095 discusses a configuration in which a member is provided that holds the recording medium just before it is cut.
In recording apparatuses in recent years, the recording area is widened to realize a further increase in speed, and the discharge direction length on the downstream side of the cutter unit is shorter to downsize the main body. In order to greatly accelerate a recording speed in an inkjet recording apparatus, a possible solution to the above requirement is to enlarge a recording area for one line, in other words, to make the recording head wider in the conveyance direction. As a result, the conveyance-direction area of the platen becomes longer and the distance from the conveyance rollers for conveying and holding a recording medium to the cutter unit become longer.
Since a curl formed in a roll of paper (paper curl) remains in a sheet of paper being conveyed, if the distance between the conveyance rollers and the cutter unit is long, the paper tends to be lifted up by the paper curl therebetween. If the carriage carrying the recording head is made larger as the recording head increases in size, the distance between the platen configured to absorb and support a recording medium and the cutter unit becomes longer, and the amount of uplift becomes larger all the more because there is no means that restrains the uplift of the paper therebetween.
To shorten the depth of the whole apparatus including a storage unit for recorded and discharged recording media, it is arranged so that a recording medium is not discharged in the horizontal direction, but discharged downward in the vertical direction as much as possible. Therefore, before cutting, the portion of the recording medium which is on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the cutter unit sags downward, but the portion on the upstream side lifts up notably in an arc form about the cutter unit as the fulcrum.
In a case of a cutter where it cuts a recording medium while a flat blade or rotary circular blades thereof are moving, the blades are mounted slightly inclined from the blade moving direction to the upstream side (to the fixed blade or the cutter guide rail side) in the conveyance direction of the recording medium. For this reason, the recording medium is pulled to the downstream side of the conveyance direction by the moving blades during cutting.
Therefore, if a cutting action starts while the recording medium is lifted up in the air on the upstream side of the cutter unit, the uplift of the recording medium is eliminated during cutting, and the cutting position on the recording medium is displaced, so that the recording medium cannot be cut to be straight. As a countermeasure, it may be possible to hold the recording medium in the manner discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-14095, but the surface of the recording medium may be damaged.